"Oh my, I was wondering why I hadn't seen your face around the hall for the past couple of days. It turns out you've finally climbed the social ladder and become a high-end kept woman, Sister Fan!"
Inside the elevator of Building 22 in the Ode to Joy residential complex, Qu Xiaoxiao leaned against the mirrored wall, offering Fan Shengmei a highly sarcastic, venomous smirk.
After several days of intense internal struggle and physical recovery, Fan Shengmei had finally mustered the courage to pack her bags and officially move up to Apartment 2303.
'This is the capital I earned with my own physical body, by letting that monster brutally abuse my ass and my throat. It is my legal, hard-earned cash. Why shouldn't I enjoy it?' she rationalized bitterly to herself. 'If a woman can finally live in a massive, luxury apartment all by herself, who would ever willingly choose to split rent with roommates?'
What she hadn't anticipated was running directly into the sharp-tongued, arrogant Qu Xiaoxiao the exact moment she began dragging her luggage down the corridor.
Qu Xiaoxiao was notoriously, violently prejudiced against mistresses and gold-diggers. Her suspicion had already reached a boiling point when she spotted Fan Shengmei limping out of that multi-million-yuan Rolls-Royce Phantom the other morning. Now, seeing the older woman actively moving her belongings into a premium, high-floor suite, Qu Xiaoxiao's rich-girl superiority flared into absolute outrage. To her, a cheap, working-class parasite suddenly living the high life on a rich man's dime was an offensive violation of the social order.
"This luxury apartment is a formal gift from Sister Fan's long-term boyfriend! Stop spreading your filthy, jealous rumors!"
Seeing Qu Xiaoxiao aggressively cornering Fan Shengmei again, Qiu Yingying—who had kindly volunteered to help carry the heavy cardboard boxes—immediately stepped forward, her face flushed with protective anger.
"Oh? Her boyfriend?" Qu Xiaoxiao scoffed loudly, crossing her arms. "How incredibly convenient! I've lived on this floor for months and I haven't seen a single sign of this mysterious partner. And since when do casual 'boyfriends' just hand over multi-million-yuan real estate deeds like candy? Let's call him what he actually is: a sugar daddy, or a wealthy client paying for services rendered!"
Qu Xiaoxiao had never considered herself to be operating in the same biological or social class as the desperate girls sharing room 2202. Admittedly, she would occasionally throw them a bone or offer a small favor, but to her, that was no different than passing a homeless beggar on the street and tossing a couple of coins into their plastic cup out of sheer, passing pity. A wealthy heiress like her would never actually waste her time befriending the beggars.
"You arrogant little bitch, watch your mouth!" Qiu Yingying exploded, aggressively rolling up her sleeves and preparing to physically launch herself at the heiress. After all, she viewed Fan Shengmei as her protective older sister!
However, the physical altercation never actually erupted. Fan Shengmei, her face pale with humiliation, joined Guan Juer in firmly grabbing Yingying's shoulders, dragging the furious girl back into the elevator.
"Tch. Keep your hands off me anyway, I don't even want to breathe the same air as you parasites," Qu Xiaoxiao sneered disdainfully as she stepped out of the elevator cab.
Honestly, if she hadn't been desperately trying to play the victim in front of her father to prove her independence and secure her inheritance, she would have never moved into this middle-class dump in the first place.
Buzz... Buzz...
Seeing her smartphone screen light up with a call from her loyal sycophant, Yao Bin, Qu Xiaoxiao answered immediately. She was fully prepared to order him to run a background check on the property deed of unit 2303 to expose the identity of Fan Shengmei's sugar daddy. She was going to humiliate the older woman permanently.
"Hey, Yao Bin! You're just in time. I need you to dig up some records for me—"
"Xiaoxiao! Listen to me very carefully right now!" Yao Bin's voice screamed through the speaker, completely hysterical and trembling with pure, unadulterated panic. "Immediately—the absolute second we hang up—take every single yuan of cash you have on you, book the fastest international flight, and run—"
Click.
Before Yao Bin could finish his desperate warning, the connection was abruptly cut.
"Yao Bin? Yao Bin, what the hell are you talking about?" Qu Xiaoxiao frowned, pulling the phone away from her ear. She instantly redialed his number, only to be met with a cold, automated operator stating that the target device had been completely switched off.
'How incredibly bizarre,' she thought, entirely baffled. What kind of weird, dramatic game was Yao Bin trying to play with her?
Just as she was about to call one of their mutual friends to locate him, her phone rang again. This time, it was her wealthy mother calling from the family mansion.
"Xiaoxiao! Your idiot half-brother Lianjie has gotten himself into a massive, catastrophic mess at the company again! Your father is absolutely furious! You need to drop everything and get home immediately to take advantage of this opportunity!"
The second those words left her mother's mouth, Qu Xiaoxiao completely threw her confusion about Yao Bin's warning into the garbage. In her calculating eyes, Yao Bin was merely a useful, high-tier simp she kept around for free favors. What actually mattered right now was rushing home to put on a theatrical display of filial devotion to her father, Qu Liancheng.
Qu Liancheng's vast estate had two potential heirs: his lazy, incompetent son Qu Lianjie—born to his deceased first wife—and Qu Xiaoxiao. Her mother had remarried Qu Liancheng years later. While Qu Xiaoxiao proudly boasted to her friends that the multi-billion-yuan Qu Group had been built from the ground up by her mother and father's joint efforts, the unvarnished reality was far dirtier. Her mother had merely been an ambitious, manipulative mistress who successfully seduced her father and usurped the first wife's position.
But because her mother was incredibly cunning and held Qu Liancheng completely under her thumb, and because Qu Xiaoxiao had been far too young to comprehend the truth of the affair at the time, she had grown up fully believing her own manufactured family legend.
She had specifically flown back from her high-end lifestyle in the United States to systematically dismantle her older brother's reputation and claim the family empire. To speed up the process, she had already posted a lucrative reward on her private WeChat Moments, offering cash to any club promoter or rich kid who could deliver solid dirt on Qu Lianjie's financial mistakes.
Sure enough, her wealthy henchwoman, Lanlan, had successfully dug up a massive, career-killing scandal regarding Qu Lianjie's recent purchasing fraud and was sprinting over to deliver the files.
Without a single microsecond of hesitation, Qu Xiaoxiao spun on her designer heels, entirely focused on executing her brother.
Meanwhile, in a highly secure, private study on the other side of the province...
Smack! Crack!
"You brainless, suicidal piece of garbage! You are going to get my entire family systematically executed!"
Acting Governor Yao Daping roared with homicidal fury, his face turning a terrifying shade of purple as he violently brought a heavy, thick leather belt down onto the bare back of his nephew, Yao Bin. The brutal impacts tore through skin and muscle, sending splinters of blood spraying onto the mahogany floor as Yao Bin shrieked in agonizing, high-pitched terror.
"Uncle! Please! Brother, I beg of you, stop! Be gentle! He is the absolute only remaining male heir of our Yao family line!" Yao Bin's mother sobbed hysterically, throwing herself onto the Persian rug to clutch her brother-in-law's legs as her son convulsed on the floor, his face completely swollen and covered in dark, oozing blood.
"God damn him! If it weren't for the fact that he is the only male heir left to carry the family name, I would have personally put a bullet through his skull hours ago!" Yao Daping spat, his chest heaving as he violently threw the shredded, blood-stained belt onto the floor.
Just that morning, a discrete military convoy had escorted him to a secure, private room in Shanghai for a mandatory, unrecorded meeting with Executive Vice Mayor Xu Guangxi.
Yao Daping had spent the entire drive frantically trying to calculate why Old Xu had summoned him so abruptly. After all, they were of equal administrative standing, both commanding immense regional authority. Under normal, highly calculated political protocols, two powerful warlords of their caliber should have actively avoided any private, unsanctioned face-to-face contact to prevent triggering suspicion in the central government.
But the very second Yao Daping had stepped into the room, his blood had run completely cold.
The powerful Secretary Xu Guangxi—a man who ruled his city with an iron fist—was sitting submissively in the lower, secondary seat of the room, acting like a common butler.
Meanwhile, lounging in the main, absolute seat of honor, was a single, highly composed young man.
Adrian Li.
Admittedly, Yao Daping had never personally met the boy before, but his extensive, high-level political network reached directly into the absolute highest, classified echelons of the state. He didn't need anyone to explicitly state the boy's name to comprehend his identity.
Adrian Li's status as the sole, protected heir of the supreme command was an open, terrifying secret among the tiny group of elite players occupying the absolute pinnacle of the social pyramid. Even a high-ranking regional fixer like Yi Zhongtian didn't possess the clearance to look at Adrian's true background.
Despite being a powerful, second-rank provincial governor who ruled over millions of citizens, Yao Daping was less than an ant compared to the absolute political gravity radiating from Adrian Li.
When Adrian had casually, smilingly informed him that his nephew, Yao Bin, had been actively aiding the Qu Group and had directly offended his personal interests, Yao Daping's legs had literally given out. He had nearly collapsed onto his knees on the spot.
To save his own neck, Yao Daping had instantly, ruthlessly sacrificed his decades-long alliance with the Qu Group. He didn't hesitate for a single second, immediately declaring that he would personally deliver an absolute, blood-soaked explanation to the Young Master. He handed over a massive, classified dossier of state evidence detailing the Qu Group's corrupt land bidding, tax evasion, and active ties to violent organized crime syndicates, completely stripping the Qu family of his political protection.
Because of his absolute, rapid submission, Adrian had graciously chosen to downplay the incident, offering a cold, terrifying smile as he stated that there was no need to make a public scandal, and that the administration still fully trusted Governor Yao's "loyalty and administrative character."
Yao Daping had practically sprinted out of the building, wiping the cold, terrified sweat from his forehead as he flew back to track down his idiot nephew. But the moment he had breached the door of the study, he had discovered the boy actively holding his phone, desperately screaming at Qu Xiaoxiao to flee the country!
He was actually trying to warn the target!
'Does this brainless scumbag actively want me to be lined up against a wall and shot for treason?' Yao Daping's mind screamed.
"Guards! Get in here right now and break both of his legs!" Yao Daping commanded, pointing a trembling, furious finger at his nephew.
"No! Brother, you can't! He is your own blood!" his sister-in-law shrieked, clawing at his boots.
"If I merely cripple him, he still gets to breathe, and I will personally ensure he is fed!" Yao Daping roared, violently kicking her hand away. "But if I am dragged down to the firing line because of his idiocy, which one of you pathetic women honestly believes you will survive the night?!"
Yao Daping stared down at the sobbing, broken form of Yao Bin.
As the ancient laws of power had always decreed: When one man ascends to enlightenment, even his chickens and dogs are elevated to the heavens. But when the nest is violently overturned, not a single egg remains intact.
.....
.....
.....
Give me powerstones.
Support me and read advance chapters on patreon.com/ImmortalDaoWriter